Auditor General Ron Foster lists concerns about an “incomplete” investigation into his allegations that city staff misled council and threatened his job.

City of Oshawa auditor general Ron Foster says an investigation of his report that alleged city staff misled council about a real estate deal and then threatened his job is incomplete and "potentially misleading."

In a long email to Oshawa city council, obtained by the Star, Foster listed a number of concerns with the investigation into his explosive May report, in which he wrote that the city manager had threatened to fire him and told him to withhold key information from council.

The investigation, conducted by veteran municipal lawyer George Rust-D’Eye, left “gaps,” including not reviewing key documents and individuals, wrote Foster.

“I am gravely concerned that (Rust-D’Eye) has been unable to complete a full investigation into the concerns and allegations outlined within my Report,” he wrote, before listing nine additions to the investigative process he recommended that council request.

Rust-D’Eye’s report was recently completed with the expectation it will go before council Sept. 3.

Rust-D’Eye couldn’t be reached for comment. He had indicated to city staff that he would be out of town until the Sept. 3 meeting. He earlier told Oshawa This Week he didn’t want to get into a public debate with the auditor, and whatever he had to say would be in his report.

“I’m in charge of my investigation, Mr. Foster is not,” he told the paper.

The sentiment was echoed by Oshawa Mayor John Henry, who told the Star he’s looking forward to Rust-D’Eye’s conclusions.

“We need to clear up a lot of things,” said Henry. “(Rust-D’Eye) is the investigator hired by council … The auditor general is not the investigating person.”

Foster said he couldn’t comment due to city policy. Foster has made various suggestions over the course of Rust-D’Eye’s investigation, including that the lawyer ask council for more time and interview several former staff members involved in the city’s controversial purchase of 199 Wentworth St. E.

Councillor Bruce Wood called the investigation “a rotten process.”

“I believe it’s a tainted report that will not be accepted by the public,” said Wood.

Oshawa councillors elected in a 5-4 vote to hire Rust-D’Eye, a widely respected lawyer who served as Mississauga’s first integrity commissioner, to investigate the auditor’s report titled “Threats to the Independence of the Auditor General.”

It centred around the purchase of 199 Wentworth St. E., a property for which critics said the city overpaid to the tune of more than a million dollars when it bought the land from Durham College for $5.9 million.

In an interim report in late June, Rust-D’Eye wrote that staff had cooperated fully with the investigation so far and that he had not come across “any hint of corruption, graft or the seeking of personal financial gain.”

Durham police said they’ve made preliminary inquiries after an Oshawa resident complained of fraud in relation to the land purchase, but are awaiting Rust-D’Eye’s findings.

“It is not an official police investigation at this point.”

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